Boats racing in the Transpacific Yacht Race started sailing into the shores of Hawaii on Sunday –including a medium size Reinrag2, a 41-foot boat that would win first place overall on corrected handicap time, said spokesman Rich Roberts.

Starting on July 9, boats departed from Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach for the 2,225-nautical mile race. The medium boats took off on July 12, the larger ones on July 15.

Here’s a round up Roberts pulled together on the race:

Rienrag2 would upstage all 73 starters big and small. The crew will recieve  the Governor of Hawaii trophy at the awards dinner Friday night.
 
“The gods must still be crazy,” said Reinrag captain Tom Garnier.  
 Even with handicaps aside, Reinrag2’s daily mileage logs late in the race surpassed those of almost all other boats – except Pyewacket and Magnitude 80 — twice its size. 

Reinrag2 started July 12 in Division 4, three days ahead of the biggest boats, and caught the breeze that blessed the middle starters. Its elapsed time was 10 days 11 hours 51 minutes 35 seconds, reduced by a handicap allowance 3:22:20:02 for a corrected time of 6:13:31:33, comfortably secure for first place even with the great majority of boats still at sea.
 With squirrelly conditions prevailing, early strategy was all over the map. Reinrag2 chose to go south.
 
“Last time we had no wind,” Tom Garnier said. “This time we really had to find the wind. We never dropped below 10 knots [in boat speed], and coming in through the channel to finish we hit 20 knots, surfing. This is just a big Laser, and you have to put the biggest sail up.” 
 
“We pushed real hard the last third of the race, and then we could see it coming.” 
 Doug Baker’s Mag 80 finished an hour before dawn Monday, to clinch overall honors in Division 1 ahead of Pyewacket.

Mag 80’s elapsed time was 7 days 19 hours 8 minutes 10 seconds, second only to Pyewacket’s 7:01:11:56.
 
The Cal 40s are still out there at sea, fighting an ongoing joust of Transpac 52s, Roberts said.

The TP52s should finish around midnight Wednesday, the Cal 40s the next day.
 
Baker knew his boat was a longshot to beat Pyewacket boat for boat and was pleased with winning Division 1 overall. On handicap, he beat Pyewacket by almost eight hours, after following his rival’s track like a determined hound dog most of the way, Roberts said.  

“They’re faster,” he said. “It was a ratings game for us.” 

Frank Easterbrook’s Ladd 73 Ariadne from Newport Beach was the first Aloha boat to finish, crossing the line 13 minutes after midnight Sunday.
“It gave me chills when we crossed the finish line,” Easterbrook said. “And when we started the race, I was so overwhelmed with being a part of this race I almost cried. That’s what this race means to me.” 

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